DreamsI've been keeping a dream journal on a special Twitter account since I was 23 years old. You can read these raw forms, if you'd like: @IHadaDreamWhere. I'm going to be adapting 99 of them as microstories.

Saturdays (mezzofiction)

Missy’s MissionWith the help of a friend, a young woman searches a rogue planet for the rumored means of getting rid of her special time powers, since having them puts her in the crosshairs of a psychotic time traveling killer.

My name is Nick Fisherman III. It's not my real name, but that's not because I'm trying to hide from my former agency, or something. I named myself after someone I've known for most of my life, and he chose it in honor of his late best friend. I took up writing when I found myself failing 8th grade science, and realized I might never reach my dream of becoming a biochemist, a meteorologist, and a quantum physicist. I started developing my canon after a scouting trip to an island inspired what I thought would be my first novel. I founded this website upon the advice of many people, who told me I needed to get my work out there, and not wait for an agent to accept my manuscript. You can expect one new story every day. Weekdays are for microstories, which are one or two paragraphs long. They're usually only thematically linked, so you won't have to read one to understand another, but they do sometimes tell a combined story. Sundays are for my continuous longer story, The Advancement of Leona Matic, which I started in the beginning, and won't end until 2066. Saturdays are for long series, most of which take place in the same universe as Leona, and add to the larger mythology.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Microstory 187: Peyton Resin

A long time ago, werewolves roamed the world; one species in a very short list of those that could shapeshift. But unlike fictional depictions of werewolves, these adhered to the law of conservation of mass. Most shapeshifting is impossible, because it would require the shifter to either inexplicably lose mass, or gain mass that does not exist. One particular anomaly was able to subvert this, but those were special circumstances. For most shapeshifters, matter is folded, stretched, or other rearranged to accommodate the shift, but nothing is added or gained. This meant that werewolves appeared to be either slightly larger wolves, or relatively small humans. To the untrained eye, Peyton Resin appeared to be a shapeshifter who could turn herself into a rock. But this was not what she was doing. Like Zoey Attar, Peyton was invoking a rock from some other location, and then she was hiding herself in another dimension. She did not become the rock itself, but was merely using it in order to tether herself to this dimension. While in this state, Peyton could see everything around her, even though she did not have eyes. As her power increased, she was able to reapply this aspect of her ability to everyday life, so that she was always aware of what was happening around her, effectively giving her eyes in the back of her head. With the help of Rick, Hankford, and Flora, Peyton learned to invoke her special rocks without slipping into the other dimension. She could place these rocks at any location, and be able to remotely witness the goings on of the immediate area. Rather early on in Bellevue’s history, the four of them chose to give these rocks as gifts to other members. They would wear them around their necks, and unwittingly give Peyton access to a powerful security system. Even though this breach of security was discovered and subsequently scrapped, Peyton ended up creating the security department of Bellevue with her partner, Milo Chombers, and still placing the rocks in strategic locations in lieu of traditional security cameras. Hankford also developed an injection containing a special type of microscopic minerals of Peyton’s creation which allowed her to keep track of all members, along with their enemies, without being able to view them remotely. Peyton was a geologist by trade, having chosen the field for obvious reasons. Besides her duties in security, she continued to publish geological papers, and contributed to the progress of science in a myriad of ways.